In November, ReFED had the privilege of welcoming Michiel Bakker, president of the Culinary Institute of America, to its Board of Directors. Michiel brings more than three decades of expertise in the food, hospitality, and services industry to ReFED’s Board, including time at Google and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. His career is marked by a commitment to innovation, sustainability, and food systems leadership.

We recently caught up with Michiel to learn more about him, his relationship with food waste, and what he hopes to contribute to the organization.

Can you briefly walk us through how you have interacted with the food waste problem throughout your career?

Food waste—and working to reduce it—has been part of my entire career. From Starwood Hotels and Resorts—where I was introduced to the book The Responsible Business, by Carol Sanford and the concept of doing more good, not just less bad—to my roles at Google and the Culinary Institute of America, I’ve had an opportunity to work across sectors with groups and individuals to collaborate on solutions for food systems challenges—including reduction of food waste—and to explore how technology, behavior change, and systems thinking can reduce food waste at scale. I’m the Chair of the Board of the Dutch start-up Orbisk, which focuses on food loss and waste reduction, and also have been a member of the EAT Forum’s Advisory Board since 2012, examining food systems challenges and working on both EAT-Lancet Commission reports and the global planetary health diet.

Why do you think solving food waste is important, and why did you choose to join ReFED's Board?

Food waste is a multi-dimensional systems challenge that impacts everyone from farmers to retailers to consumers. Food waste literally takes food out of people's mouths and in so doing, creates a cascade of issues ranging from food insecurity to financial challenges to landfill. We have the power to reduce food waste, and working together—across the entire industry from farm to shelf to table—I am confident we can do it.

ReFED is the leading US organization in this space, approaching the challenge holistically and collaboratively. ReFED stands out as a data-driven, systems-focused leader—building the tools, coalitions, and insights needed to drive real change. Joining the Board is an opportunity to help scale solutions, influence systems-level levers for change, and amplify collaboration across sectors.

What experience do you hope to bring to ReFED?

I think my diverse, cross-sector experiences—from leadership roles at global hospitality and tech companies to higher education can be an asset to ReFED. I have an understanding of both the business perspective and the operator’s perspective, working with stakeholders across diverse regions and supply chains. I also have deep expertise in industry engagement and systems leadership, helping organizations move from insight to action. I am committed to elevating emerging leaders and fostering innovation through networks and coalitions.

What are some areas of ReFED's work that you're excited about?

A better question might be – what am I not excited about? Here are my top 5:

1. ReFED’s ability to translate complex data into action-oriented insights for industry, policymakers, and innovators.

2. ReFED’s focus on total system efficiency, including upstream food loss, not just downstream waste is a cohesive approach that can help drive significant impact.

3. Its role as a convener of cross-sector actors, connecting entrepreneurs, funders, businesses, and communities.

4. The emphasis on equity and access within food waste reduction, ensuring solutions benefit the people most affected by inefficiencies in the food system.

5. ReFED’s expanding work in capital and innovation mapping, helping match solutions to the funding and policy structures they need to scale.

What is one hope or aspiration for the future of ReFED?

That ReFED continues to evolve as the preeminent thought and action leader on food waste and that it increases its (global) ability to move from focusing on and getting attention to the subject of food waste to accelerating and enabling the scaled implementation of solutions to create more impact faster.

What food do you struggle the most not to waste?

Vegetables.

To me, vegetables highlight one of the core truths of food waste: it’s rarely about intention, and almost always about system design. I value vegetables, I buy them with purpose, and I want to use them—but life happens: late meetings, travel, etc. That tension between aspiration and reality is exactly why data, design, and behavior insights matter so much. Even in my own kitchen, I see how better systems—portion planning tools, flexible recipes, or simply more thoughtful routines—could drive big improvements.